The date of the original house on the
Marple Hall site is uncertain, it was probably built by the Vernons of Haddon Hall during
the reign of Henry VII. The Vernons held the manors of Marple and Wybersley through
several generations, the last being Sir George Vernon. He died without male heirs, so the
estates were divided between his two daughters. Margaret, the eldest, married Sir Thomas
Stanley, second son of the Earl of Derby. The other daughter was the famous Dorothy Vernon
who married Sir John Manners.

On the death of
Lady Margaret in 1596, the manors of Marple and Wybersley came into the possession of her
eldest son, Sir Edward Stanley of Tonge. Sir Edward, the last of the feudal lords, having
no male heirs sold off the manors in question in 1606.

Henry Bradshawe,
younger son of William Bradshawe of Derbyshire, brought the estates of Marple Hall and
Wybersley together with the "Place" in Marple, where he had previously lived as
a tenant. This period marks the breakdown of the manorial system in Marple, as after these
purchases the manorial rights were not exercised and fell into disuse.

On
his death in 1619 Henry Bradshawe I, the buyer of Marple
Hall, was succeeded by his son Henry Bradshawe II. Henry II married Catherine, the
daughter of Ralph Winnington of Offerton in 1594. Their first son died in his first year
in 1597, the eldest surviving son Henry III was baptised in 1600 and he was followed by
John in 1602 and Francis in 1604. Little is known of Francis, but John Bradshawe went on to become Marple's most famous son.

Henry Bradshawe III
inherited the estates on his father's death in 1654. Although he only held them for seven
years it was Henry III who, in 1658, pulled down most of the original farmhouse and
rebuilt the Hall which was to survive substantially unchanged for 300 years. He died in
1662 and was succeeded by his son Henry Bradshawe IV.

Henry IV made
considerable additions to Marple Hall by erecting the stables and outbuildings. They bore
on their front to the right of the clock tower, as well as on the great barn in the court
yard at the back, the date 1669 and the initials HBE. The stables and barns were built
mainly of red sandstone, with the exception of the clock tower, which was in brick and
contained a clock with the date 1685. The clock tower was probably added at around that
date when Henry Bradshawe V was in residence.

Henry
IV died in 1699 and was succeeded by Henry V who married the daughter of Richard Legh, of
High Legh. It was he who placed in position the leaden spout heads carrying the crest of
the Bradshawes "Stag at gaze under an oak" and the arms of the Legh of High
Legh, "Lion Rampant". In addition other spout heads bore the date 1668 at the
east side and at the front alternately 1683 and the initials HBE.

Henry V died in
1724 without issue. He was succeeded by his younger brother Thomas, who died unmarried in
1743. On his death the estates passed to Mary Bradshawe, his sister. She was married, for
the second time, to Nathaniel Isherwood, of Bolton-le-moors, Lancashire. The estates then
passed to their son Nathaniel Bradshawe-Isherwood II who was born in 1713. He married
Elizabeth Brabin, of Brabyns Hall and died without issue in 1765.

Nathaniel
II was succeeded by his brother Thomas Bradshawe-Isherwood II. His second wife was Mary,
daughter of Thomas Orrel, of Salterly and they had three sons and a daughter. The eldest
son, Thomas Bradshawe-Isherwood III succeeded his father in 1778 but died unmarried in
1791. The estate then came into the possession of his brother Henry Bradshawe-Isherwood ,
who also died unmarried in 1801. The estates then passed to the youngest brother John
Bradshawe-Isherwood I.

John I made a
number of changes to the Hall during his time. The drawing and dining room wing was
modernised by the insertion of bow windows and three storeys were replaced by two,
heightening the ceilings of the dining room and the drawing room above it. He also altered
the South and East fronts, replacing the lattice windows on the left of the entrance by
French windows. The lines of the original gables which he substituted by square curtain
walls could still be traced above the windows.

John I married
Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Bancroft, Rector of Bolton-le-moors. He died in
1839 and was succeeded by Thomas Bradshawe-Isherwood IV who married Mary Ellen, daughter
of the Rev. Henry Bellairs of Deeping Fen, Rector of Bedworth. Although he lived until the
age of seventy-five Thomas was physically weak and suffered poor health from an
early age. When only twenty-seven years old he suffered a major breakdown in his health
and the running of the estates was taken over by his wife Mary Ellen in 1847. They had
been married for only six years and had two young children.

Mary
Ellen was a strong and capable woman. It is said that from the balcony above the entrance
door, with her infant son in her arms, she faced an enraged mob of Luddites who visited
Marple Hall with destructive intentions during the Chartist riots in 1842. This incident
was used by Disraeli in his novel "Sybil". In 1886 Mary Ellen and Thomas moved
to Grantham in Lincolnshire, leaving their son John Henry Bradshawe-Isherwood to take up
residence in Marple Hall.

John Henry is
said to have done very little during his time at the Hall, however he was responsible for
the installation of electricity in the early 1900's. He married Elizabeth, daughter
of Thomas Luce, member of parliament for Malmesbury and they had five children. When
John Henry died in 1924, the estates came to his eldest son Henry
Bradshaw-Isherwood.

Henry was fifty-six
years old when he inherited the estates in 1924. He only lived at Marple Hall for a very
short time before returning to London. A caretaker then lived on the estate but very
little upkeep or maintenance of the buildings was carried out. In 1929 Henry put the
majority of furniture and contents of the Hall up for sale by auction. Little is known of
where the pieces went, including the family portraits. Henry's marriage failed and he died
in 1940 without issue. Following the sale the Hall was open to visitors and available for
functions for a number of years.

Henry's
brother Frank Isherwood was a professional soldier who saw action in the Boer War. He
married Kathleen Mackle and they lived for some time at Wybersley Hall, where their first
son Christopher was born, in 1904. Because of Frank's army career they left Wybersley in
1907. Their second son Richard was born in 1911. In 1915 Frank was killed at the battle of
Ypres in France, during the First World War.

Christopher
Isherwood inherited Marple Hall following the death of his uncle Henry in 1940.
Christopher, the well known writer, was living in California and had become an American
citizen. Soon after, in 1941, he relinquished his interest in the estate in favour of his
younger brother Richard

Both Christopher and Richard Isherwood appear to have had
little interest in the well-being of the Hall. The caretakers remained on the site for
many years, but following their retirement in 1953 the Hall was left untended and the
vandals quickly set to work. The Hall was stripped and looted, the removal of lead from
the roof caused a chimney to collapse and fall through the roof causing severe internal
damage.

In
1954
Richard Isherwood belatedly offered the Hall and gardens to Marple Council but they
refused and the vandalism and destruction continued. In 1957, when the Hall was a total
ruin, it was again offered to the Council. This time they agreed and it was decided that
after demolition the foundations should be grassed over and preserved and a suitable
plaque erected. Unfortunately even this was to suffer at the hands of vandals and souvenir
hunters and all that remains is the lintel stone originally set by Henry Bradshawe III in
1658 and now looking uncannily like a gravestone.

On a visit to the site of the
Hall in the sixties Christopher Isherwood is reported to have "felt no
grimness or sadness" at seeing only grass where the house had stood "only
wonderfully joyful". It is unlikely that anyone with the least sense of
history will be able to share, or understand these sentiments.